- quote -
Other names: Kagutsuchi no mikoto, Hinoyagihayao no kami, Hinokagabiko no kami (Kojiki),
Ho musuhi (Nihongi).
The kami of fire or hi no kami. According to Kojiki and an "alternate writing" transmitted by Nihongi, Izanami suffered mortal burns when giving birth to this kami.
Upon Izanami's death, Izanagi was enraged and cut up the deity with his sword, whereupon Takemikazuchi and other deities were produced from the blood on his sword.
Still other deities were produced from Kagutsuchi's body, and their names all included the element yamatsumi, thus indicating their relation to mountains.
In the Engishiki,
a source which contains the myth, Izanami, in her death throes, bears the water god Mizuhame, instructing her to pacify Kagutsuchi if he should become violent. This story also contains references to traditional fire-fighting tools: gourds for carrying water and wet clay and water reeds for smothering fires. - reference source : Kadoya Atsushi - Kokugakuin -

Kuraokami, Takaokami 高おかみ神, Kuramitsuha
Three Kami produced from the blood that dripped from Izanagi's sword when he killed the kami of fire, Kagutsuchi.. Kifune Shrine Kume 貴布弥（きふね）神社 .
岡山県久米郡久米町桑上 Kuwakami village, Kume, Okayama

. 金山彦神 Kanayamabiko, 金山姫 Kanayamabime .
According to Kojiki, these kami were produced from the vomit (taguri) emitted by Izanami as she lay dying following the birth of the kami of fire Kagutsuchi.
The History of Tatara - Kanayago-Kami

. Kifune Jinja 貴船神社 Shrine in Kyoto .
Tamayori-hime 玉依姫, a female water Kami, is venerated here to watch over Kagutsuchi, in a balance of fire and water worship in Kyoto.
The tow other deities enshrined here are Takaokami-no-Kami and Kuraokami-no-Kami.

- quote -
Kagutsuchi (aka Hi-no-Kagutsuchi) is the Shinto god or kami of fire and is also known as Homusubi. The son of Izanami and Izanagi, the fire god is the father of eight warrior gods and eight mountain gods, amongst others. Such a destructive force as fire in a culture where buildings were typically made of wood and paper resulted in Kagutsuchi becoming an important object of Shinto ritual and a frequent receiver of appeasing offerings. - Genealogy & Offspring
According to the 8th-century CE Kojiki ('Record of Ancient Things') and Nikon Shoki ('Chronicle of Japan' and also known as the Nihongi), Kagutsuchi-no-kami, to give his full name, was born from Izanami, one of the Shinto creator gods, but such was his fierce heat that he killed his mother in the process. His father Izanagi was not best pleased with this result and so lopped off Kagutsuchi’s head with his great sword, the Ame-no-o-habari-no-kami. From the blood which gushed out over the surrounding rocks and dripped from the sword’s blade and hilt another eight gods were born, all of them powerful swordsmen kami. The two most important of these martial gods are Takemikazuchi-no-kami and Futsunushi-no-kami, with the former being also a thunder god and patron of the martial arts who famously subdued Namazu the giant catfish that lives beneath the earth and causes earthquakes by flipping his tail.

Two other gods born from Kagutsuchi’s blood were Kuraokami-no-kami, who is mentioned in the Manyoshu poem anthology (compiled c. 759 CE) as being a dragon and rain god.
Another is Amatsumikaboshi, the kami of Venus, the Evening Star. Her alternative name is Amenokagasewo.

After Kagutsuchi’s decapitation the story continues and from just about every body part of the fire god, from his left foot to his genitals, eight more gods were born. These were mountain gods which represented different types of mountains such as forested ones, those with moors, those far away, those possessing iron, those which provided passes to adjoining valleys and, of course, volcanoes. The stories of Kagutsuchi which include the creation of iron and swords may well be a mythological explanation for the arrival of iron and superior metal goods via immigrants arriving in Japan from mainland Asia at the beginning of the Yayoi Period (c. 300 BCE or earlier to c. 250 CE), many of whom may well have been warriors.

In an alternative version, or rather an added segment, recorded in the 10th-century CE Engishiki, before she dies Izanami hides away and gives birth to three more gods: the water kami Mizuhame-no-mikoto, the clay princess, the gourd, and the water reed. All four are instructed by their dying mother to watch out for Kagutsuchi and, if necessary, act to pacify him if he ever gets out of hand. The traditional fire-fighting equipment of the ancient Japanese was water, carried in a gourd, to pour on the fire while water reeds and clay were often used to smother it. Even today in some parts of Japan, there is a midwinter ritual where reed bundles are placed in the eaves of roofs so that they are handy if a fire should break out.- Fire in Shinto Rituals
The Japanese have long since had a great fear of fire and the devastation it can cause, not least because Japanese buildings were traditionally made from highly combustible wood and paper walls with wood shale or grass roofs. Fires have destroyed almost every major ancient building and temple in the ancient cities of Japan over the centuries, and during the Edo period (1603-1868 CE), fires were so frequent at the capital Edo (modern Tokyo) that they were known as 'the flowers of Edo'.

It is not surprising then that ceremonies to appease and ward off Kagutsuchi were a common feature of Shinto ritual. In such rituals and prayers, Kagutsuchi is usually referred to as Homusubi, which translates as 'he who starts fires'. The ancient Japanese even dedicated a twice yearly ceremony to Kagutsuchi, the Ho-shizume-no-matsuri, which was sponsored by the imperial court whose sprawling palace complexes were frequently victim to fires. The ceremony was designed to please the god and ensure he would withhold his terrible flames for another six months. The destructive fire of Kagutsuchi is in contrast to the purifying fire of Shinto rituals, known as kiri-bi, which was traditionally made by rubbing together two pieces of hinoki wood, a type of cypress.

Kagutsuchi is sometimes equated with Atago Gongen, another kami of fire and considered an avatar of the Buddhist figure Jizo.
Strictly speaking, though, Atago Gongen is a more positive figure in Japanese mythology and acts as a protector from fire or a preserver of it. - source : ancient.eu/Kagutsuchi - Mark Cartwright -

- quote - Hayama-gomori - Retreat at Hayama.
A festival held between the fifteenth and the eighteenth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar at Kuronuma Shrine, Fukushima City.
According to a local legend, a long time ago, when the nearby hamlet of Kanesawa was being attacked by a giant crab the size of a tatami mat, seven families found shelter at Kuronuma Shrine.
There they received an oracle ( 託宣 takusen / 神託 shintaku) which enabled them to get rid of the crab.
It is said that a giant serpent (orochi) in the Abukuma River was also defeated thanks to a takusen from this shrine. The festival is held to commemorate these two events. Rites of obeisance and making mochi rice cakes are held on the fifteenth.
On the sixteenth, worshippers staying overnight at the small shrines, get naked in order to perform the yoisa rite, a pantomime of rice cultivation.
At dawn on the eighteenth, after having been purified with water, the worshippers climb Mount Hayama to recite ritual incantations (norito). There, an officiant known as the のりわら / ノリワラ noriwara acts as a medium for oracles predicting the weather, harvest and calamities for the coming year. - source : kokugakuin Mogi Sakae -

Hayama no Kami 葉山の神 Kami of Hayama (羽山の神託)
The Noriwara wears white robes and a white headband and swings a heisoku 幣束 ritual wand.
The villagers built a ritual fire in a place separated with sacred ropes on four green bamboo poles. The Noriwara swings his ritual wand through the flames for purification (hi o shimesu火をしめす). Often the Noriwara himself jumps over the flames.

He answers to all kinds of questions:
Will I have to become a soldier and go to the army?
Will I get ill next year?
When asked, the Noriwara swings his ritual wand heavily up and down and waits till the Kami of Hayama has slipped into his body.
Then he swings the wand up and knees on the floor in reverence (神あがる kami agaru).
Now all present chant a purification prayer:
sange sange rokkon shojo さんげさんげろっこんしょうじょう.

When the Noriwara gets some salt water to drink, he comes back to his sense.
He takes a short rest and then answers to the questions of the next villager.
This ritual lasts the whole night.
At the end the Noriwara swings his wand again through the flames (hi o shimesu 火をしめす).

Then all take the offerings, go to the shrine and have a feast of the food offerings.
The ritual wand can now be placed at the entrance of a horse shed to keep the animals healthy.

The selection of a villager for Noriwara is done with great care.
Once the man had been effective, he will be chosen again and again.
A very clever and learned person is not suited for this sacred post.

If a person does not show respect for the rituals, the Noriwara might call out loud that this person will fall down near the fire.

Once a Noriwara became ill on the day of the rituals and could not attend. One of the villagers assembled at the shrine begun to pray and then became possessed by the Kami.
He jumped up and down, up and down.

Once a man called the oracle of the のりわら Noriwara a lie and laughed loud.
On the afternoon of this day it begun to rain and there was great flooding.

..............................................................................................................................................
福島市 Fukushima city 松川町 Matsukawa
Matuskawa is a small town outside of Fukushima City,

hayama no shintaku 羽山の神託 divination at Hayama
Kami from other mountains sometimes come for a visit and the Noriwara has to welcome them and see them off, one after the other.
Sometimes if Hayama no Kami can not show, they can take his turn during the oracle.
Sometimes it is 稲荷 Inari san, sometimes 水神 Suiji, the Kami of Water.

On Mount Hayama in 金沢 Kanezawa hamlet, people stay and pray for divination:
How will the weather be? How will the harvest turn out?
According to the divination, they make their plans for the coming year.

- quote Hashihime (橋姫) ("the maiden of the bridge")
is a character that first appeared in Japanese Heian-period literature, represented as a woman who spends lonely nights waiting for her lover to visit, and later as a fierce “oni” or demon fueled by jealousy. She came to be associated most often with a bridge in Uji.

Kyōka Hyaku-Monogatari 1853

Very little is known about the origin of Hashihime. The most common interpretation is that she was a lonely wife pining for her husband / lover to return but due to his infidelity, she became jealous and turned into a demon.- source : wikipedia

- quote - Hashihime – The Bridge PrincessFrom Mizuki Shigeru, Yōkai Stories
Nothing quite embodies the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” like the Hashihime. A human woman consumed by jealousy and hatred, she transformed herself through sheer willpower—and the assistance of a helpful deity who taught her a complicated ritual—into a living demon of rage and death. A yokai from the Heian period, she is one of the most powerful and fierce creatures in Japan’s menagerie.

What Does Hashihime Mean?
With only two kanji, her name is straight-forward: 橋 (hashi; bridge) 姫 (hime; princess). But there is a secret meaning hidden inside. In ancient Japanese, the word airashi (愛らしい; pretty; charming; lovely; adorable) could be pronounced “hashi.” So “Hashihime the Bridge Princess” was also a homophone for (愛姫) “Hashihime the Pretty Princess.”
The only real question is why does such a horrible demon have such a lovely, delicate name? This is because the name predates the monster. There have been Bridge Princesses—benign deities of the water—for far longer than there have been jealous women with crowns of iron and burning torches clenched between their teeth.
- - - Hashihime as Water Goddess
Going back into ancient, pre-literate Japan, there has long been a mythology built around bridges. Japan was—and still is—an animistic culture where nature is embodied by spirits of good and ill. The wonders of nature, like particularly large and twisted trees or odd and out of place rocks, had their own guardian deities called kami. Rivers too, especially large rivers, were the abodes of gods. ...
In the year 905 CE, we get one of the oldest known written mentions of the Hashihime, in a poem from the 14th scroll of the Kokin Wakashū (古今和歌集; Collection of Poems of Ancient and Modern Times). This is especially notable because it mentions not just any Hashihime, but the Hashihime of Uji—a legend that would come to dominate all images of this fantastic creature.

Upon a narrow grass mat
laying down her robe only
tonight, again –
she must be waiting for me,
Hashihime of Uji

- - - Hashihime as Female Demon
How the transformation happened—from benign, sexy river goddess to avatar of female rage—is unknown. Most likely it happened like all folklore, organically and over time. The shrines to the Hashihime existed near bridges, and as people forgot their original purpose they began to make up new stories. Most of these stories tended to include some legend of the Hashihime as “woman done wrong.” There are old legends of a woman whose husband went off to war and never came back, and she wept by the river bank in sorrow until she was transformed into the Hashihime. Others are stories of jealousy and revenge. ...
While Lady Rokujo is not the Hashihime, ...
- - - The Heike Monogatari and the Hashihime of Uji
...The Heike Monogatari emphasizes repeatedly than the Hashihime is a “still-living” oni. ...
Toriyama’s Text:
“The Goddess Hashihime lives in the under the Uji Bridge in Yamashiro province (Modern day Southern Kyoto). That is the explanation for this drawing of the Hashihime of Uji.”
- - - Kanawa 鉄輪 – The Iron Crown
The Noh play Kanawa (鉄輪; The Iron Crown) comes from one of the versions of the Hashihime story from the Heike Monogatari. ...
- - - Other Hashihime
Although she is by far the most famous, the Hashihime of Uji is not the only Hashihime. Nagarabashi bridge over the Yodogawa river in Osaka and the Setanokarabashi bridge over the Setagawa river in Sega prefecture also lay claim to their own Hashihimes.
- - - The Hashihime Shrine
..... Shrine records claim the Hashihime Shrine dates back to 646 CE, making it older than most known legends of the Hashihime of Uji. Most likely it was originally dedicated to the water goddess under the bridge, and the kami of the shrine evolved along with the legends. ... - source : Zack Davisson -

- quote - The Tale of the Hashihime of UjiTranslated from the Heike Monogatari
During the Imperial reign of the Emperor Saga, there lived a courtly lady consumed by jealousy. So powerfully was she in jealousy’s grip that she made a pilgrimage to the shrine at Kifune and cloistered in prayer. For seven days, she devoted herself to a single-minded wish: “Oh great and powerful Kami of Kifune, grant me the powers of a devil while I am still living. Make me a fierce being, terrible to behold. Let my outer form match the flame of jealousy that burns so brightly within. Let me kill.”

That great miracle-working Kami of Kifune understood the depths of her desire, and heeded her call. “I am moved by pity and by the sincerity of your prayer. If you wish to become a living oni, to change into a monstrous form, get thee to the Kawase river in Uji. Perform the ceremony I shall now teach you, and then return to submerge yourself in the waters of the river. Do this for 21 days.” This courtly lady saw and heard the manifestation of this celestial being, and was in rapture.- continued here - source : Zack Davisson -

quote
A pictorial subject based on "The Lady at the Bridge" Hashihime, Chapter 45 of GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji).

The last ten chapters of the Tale are known as UJI JUUJOU 宇治十帖 (The Ten Books of Uji). This chapter, the first of the ten, introduces the Eighth Prince Hachi no miya 八宮, a half-brother of Genji, and his two daughters, Ooigimi 大君 and Naka no kimi 中君, who live with him in his self-imposed retirement at Uji (south of Kyoto). The prince is known for his piety and wisdom. Kaoru 薫, whose serious character is engendered by deep misgivings about his paternity, begins to study under Hachi no miya.
Eventually he learns from Ben no kimi 弁君, the daughter of *Kashiwagi's 柏木 wet nurse, that he is not in fact Genji's son, but rather the illegitimate son of Kashiwagi. The scene most frequently chosen for illustration shows Ooigimi playing a lute biwa 琵琶 and Naka no kimi a harp koto 琴 under the moon and clouds while Kaoru secretly peers in through a break in the villa's bamboo fence.
This scene survives in a section of the earliest illustrated version (12c) in the Tokugawa 徳川 Art Museum. source : Jaanus

If the procession of a wedding passes before this shrine, someone will certainly become very ill or even die. It is also possible that the wedding will not be successful and the couple divorced.

During the Time of Minamoto no Raikō many people suddenly disappeared.
When he investigated the events, he found that during the times of 嵯峨天皇 Saga Tenno a very jealous woman cast a spell at 貴船の社 Kifune Shrine.
The shrine is therefore associated with the Ushi no toki mairi 丑の時参り, the ritual of wearing candles on one's head and laying a curse at a shrine during the "hour of the Ox", since it is from the resident deity that Hashihime learns the prescribed ritual to turn herself into an oni鬼 demon to exact vengeance.
This story is told in the Noh play Kanawa 金輪 ("The Iron Crown").

- quote - First ever English translation of the Hitsuki ShinjiWhat is Hikarikyokwai Society?
Jehova revealed Himself to those elects of old Judea in the times when He felt that it is necessary to do so. Books of Moses were written like that and those books of prophets the same. However, if we limit that such a revelation could be given only to them, St. John’s revelation as the last and never afterward, doesn’t it sound unreasonable? Why can’t Jehova have any elects among those nations which are not Jews? Isn’t hat also thinkable that God is willing to reveal Himself to the Asiatic nations sometimes?

Swedenbrog had to explain exactly the same sort of thing while he was woking hard to write down what the Lord has shown him in 18th century. Zeal of these notes is to introduce that we have the same sort of case which has taken place here in Japan since June of 1944.

It was in the suite of Shinto shrine Mahgata, in Kohzu-mura, Chiba prefecture, when a Japanese painter Mr. Okamoto was there. He got a kind of shock and painful impulses to write. He wrote down what he himself could not read at all at the beginning. But it was much afterward that those writings were found to be quite valuable.

They can be said a revelation of Ameno Hitsukunokami dictated by Hitsukunokami, that is a kind of divine revelation that was given to Japanese nation at the close of the war. However, we are convinced that this revelation is not addressed only to Japanese alone but to whole nation of the world, and that’s the reason the Hikarikyokwai Society started to publish this tabloid both in English and Japanese.

Concerning the reasons why it can be said divine revelation addressed to the whole nation of the world, shall be understood with the study of the said revelation itself, which would be introduced here afterwards. However, some characteristic points of the said revelation is that it shows very intimate relationship between so called divine scriptures of the world.

There are many who found very deep truth in it and who are convinced that things shown through the revelation are true and the commandments written in it must be fulfilled. Hikarikyokwai Society is the name to the group of such people.

Following is the English translation of another part from the revelation. [This is from Book 1, Chapter 1. –AHM]- snip -Example of original writing.
一んねんTけ二〇かmaruchonの三三一四もの一二四キ・T一八〇二もか〇二もか三〇つれ十も四で

English translation from the original writing, illustrated.
“This revelation can be understood in the measure of the depth of each soul destined to understand. The time has come the divine truth shall be preached. If not even stones shall take the role of human souls. Let us hear that the nature, mountain river and else, is revealing the divine truth day and night.”

There are three peaks, Minami-dake (Southern Peak) 南岳 (1,200m), Naka-dake (Middle Peak) 中岳 (1,188m) Kita-Dake 北岳 (Northern Peak) (1,192m) and various Shrines on the way.
There are three torii gates as the stone steps go up the uppermost shrine on the mountain.

- quote
Hiko-san is one of Kyushu’s finest hikes. During autumn, the colours of the turning leaves are simply stunning; vivid hues of red, gold and purple adding brilliance to the hike’s many panoramic view points.
Hiko-san is notable also for its shrines which line the trail. The largest of these,Hohei-den 奉幣殿 (built in 1616), is the most majestic and can be enjoyed for its history and magnificent sloping roof.

From Kane-no-torii there are two options for ascending to the start of the trail. The recommended option is to walk the great stone staircase to Hohei-den, which can be found just to the left of the car park. This ancient staircase, lined by maple and camphor trees, passes under several torii gates and has been well-trodden and worn by centuries of pilgrims travelling to Hohei-den. In 2005, a small mono-rail was built that runs parallel to the staircase and will transport you to Hohei-den in just under 15 minutes.
Just in front of the main shrine, a steep staircase runs upwards. This staircase continues to the Naka-dake (1,188m) summit . . .

Tamaya-jinja 玉屋神社,
which is built into a sheer cliff that rises impressively over the shrine. A sacred spring lies next to the shrine, where water coalesces in small droplets that drip from the roof of a moss covered grotto.

Onisugi 鬼杉, "Demon's cedar", a 1,200 year old cedar tree that presides over the rest of the forest.

Daiminami-jinja 大南神社
which, like Tamaya-jinja is built into the rock face behind it. A set of chains leads up the mountain to the right of the shrine, aiding the ascent.

On top of Naka-dake lies Jōgū 上宮, the uppermost shrine of Hōhei-Den.

Takasumi-jinja 高住神社,
the final shrine of the hike. Secluded in a forest, this shrine rivals both the majesty of Hohei-den and the beauty of Tamya-jinja. A bronze bull has been made golden by the touch of passersby and is supposed to possess healing powers, which may come in use after the tricky descent.

The shrine was originally built in 740 as a center of training for the Shugendō sect of Buddhism. However, the Shugendō temple was abolished by the separation of Shinto from Buddhism, introduced after the Meiji Restoration. Reisen-ji (霊泉寺), the head temple of the Tendai Buddhism, was converted into Hikosan Jinja (英彦山神社).
In 1975, it was renamed to its present name, Hikosan Jingū.

wakudo iwa わくど岩 the Frog Rock Wakudo わくど is the local dialect for frog or toad.

In the middle of Mount Hikosan three is a plain called Takasuhara たかす原 with a special rock formation,
just like a huge frog 蟇. Once upon a time
a great frog came up to Mount Hikosan. He was heading for a smaller hill and begun his climb slowly. But as he climbed up slowly, the nearby fields and paddies sunk into a muddy sea. Many farmers were in deep trouble now. When Hikosan Gongen saw what happened, he threw the huge frog down from the hill and in no time the fields and paddies were back in their former splendor.
But a few years later, the huge frog started his climb again, each year the length of one grain of rice and if he would ever reach the top, the whole region would become submerged by the sea. This time Hikosan Gongen wanted to prevent the huge frog from doing any further damage to the farmers and removed the small hill from the region.
Again the huge frog tumbled down to the plain and there became a huge rock.

- quote - Three traditional performing arts of Soeda Machi
In the Kamitsuno and Shimotsuno settlements in Soeda Machi, the "Tsuno Kagura" is dedicated for the Jinko-sai (Jinko festival) held by Takagi Shrine at the beginning of May every year. The kagura (Shinto music and dance performance) is performed by the Tsuno Kagura Preservation Association, and performance items consist of the following 12 performance items:
"Kome-maki," "Orii," "Mifuku," "Shime kiri," "Ji-wari," "bon," "San-no kiri," "San-bon Tsurugi," "Tsuna Misaki,"
"Yumi Kagura," "Hana Kagura," and "Iwato."
In Noda settlement,
the "Noda Shishi-gaku" is dedicated for the Jinko-sai (Jinko festival) held by Kamo Shrine at the beginning of May every year. Performing groups are divided mainly into the "gaku-uchi" group (who play musical instruments) and the "shishimai" group, where gaku-uchi is performed by elementary school boys and shishimai is performed by young adult men. There are five performance items:
"Godan," "Maeniwa," "Baba-iri," "Shin Baba-iri," and "Shinden Utsushi."

"Hiko-san Odori" (Hiko-san dance) is a highly elegant dance which is said to have been introduced by the priest of Hikosan Shrine in the Nanbokucho period (the Northern and Southern Courts period) around 1333. This dance is performed every year as a dedication for the "opening of Hiko-san mountain" and as a "requiem prayer." - source : bunkashisan.ne.jp -

- quote - Hikosan shinkō 英彦山信仰
Beliefs and practices associated with Mt Hiko, in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. Hiko is made up of three peaks: Minamidake, Nakadake, and Kitadake, the highest of which is Minamidake at 1200 m.

Formerly "Hiko" was written with the characters 日子, meaning "child of the sun"; in the first half of the ninth century, during the reign of the Emperor Saga, it was changed to the single character 彦, and then again to 英彦, its present designation, in 1729, at the order of the Retired Emperor Reigen.
According to the Kamakura-period Hikosan ruki, the Gongen of the Three Places of Mt Hiko (Hikosan sansho gongen) was composed of Mt Zokutai in the south (Shaka), Mt Hottai in the north (Amida) and Mt Nyotai in the center (Thousand-armed Kannon).
The present shrine Hikosan Jingū Honsha (the jōgū, or "upper shrine") is located on the central peak and amalgamates the enshrined deities (saijin) of the other two peaks. Formerly there were nine other sacred sites:
Mt. Hakusan, Daigyōji, Kitayamadono, Hannya Cave (Tamaya), Ōminami Cave, Buzen Cave, Chimuro Cave, Takanosu Cave, and the middle shrine (chūgū).

Added to the Gongen of the Three Places, they were worshipped as the Gongen of the Twelve Places (Hikosan jūnisho gongen). Altogether there were 49 caves, sites of veneration and religious training, which were considered to correspond to the 49 halls of the Tushita heaven, the dwelling-place of Maitreya. Each was said to have contained statues of the Gongen of the Three Places or protector deities, but today the only ones which remain sites of veneration are the Hannya, Ōminami, Buzen and Chimuro caves.
The caves can be thought to preserve an aspect of religious practice which was prominent in the medieval period, that of retreat (komori) inside caves, before the introduction of mountain asceticism in the form of moving from one sacred place to another (tosō).

Seasonal mountain entry rituals (junbu in spring, hanaku no mine in summer and gyakubu in autumn) took form during the Muromachi period. Here, Mt Hiko was considered to be the realm of the Womb Mandala, while the role of Diamond Mandala was fulfilled by Mt Hōman in spring and Mt Fukuchi in autumn.

Forty-eight places of ascetic training (gyōba) were established over a sixty kilometer route through the mountains, and the goal of training was represented as the unity of the two mandalas. Most of the sites fell into disuse after the discontinuation of mountain-entry rituals in 1870.

According to founding legends, Ame no Oshihomimi, son of Amaterasu, descended to this mountain and was enshrined here, En no Ozunu, with his mother on his back, climbed Mt Hiko and then went to China by way of Mt Hōman, and Jugen, having trained at Ōmine, brought the divided spirit of Kumano Gongen here.

Another legend says that Zenshō, a priest from the state of Northern Wei in China, brought a Buddhist statue to Hiko and taught a hunter called Fujiwara Kōyū about the precept of not taking life by means of a miraculous occurrence whereby he restored to life, as a white hawk, a white deer the hunter had pursued and shot.

In 538 Zenshō built a hermitage called Reisen on the mountain, and Kōyū, having taken the Buddhist name Ninniku, became his successor. The third priest in the lineage, Hōren, went to Kyoto at the order of the Emperor Saga; at this time the characters to write Hiko were changed (see above) and the hermitage was given the temple name of Reisenji.
It also received a land commendation ("seven ri in the four directions"), which it kept throughout the medieval period.

Hiko later thrived as a center for yamabushi; at its height it had 3800 priests, and, with Ōmine and Haguro, it was counted as one of the three great Shugendō sites of Japan.
In 1333, the imperial prince Yasuhito (said to have been a son of the Emperor Go-Fushimi) was invited to the temple as its head prelate (zasu 座主), and the shrine-temple complex on the mountain was organized under a hereditary married head, made up of priests (shūtō), kami priests (jinin) and shugen priests.
Shugendō rituals and organization became fixed during the Muromachi period.

Of particular importance were doctrinal developments, in which Hiko played a leading role. A comprehensive compilation of records was made by Akyūbō Sokuden (dates unknown), who had come to Hiko from Nikkō.

In the Edo period, Hiko was not under the authority of either Honzanha or Tōzanha, but maintained its independence from them. However in 1696, as a result of a dispute with Shōgoin (head temple of Honzanha), Hiko was designated a "special headquarters Shugen temple of Tendai" (Tendai Shugen bekkaku honzan). Its economic base was an income of 1200 koku donated by the Hosokawa and Ogasawara clans, plus the distribution of talismans and medicines among supporters (danna) throughout Kyushu, as well as the promotion of pilgrimage (sankei) to Hiko.
By the end of the Edo period,
it had 250 shugen priests and around 420,000 households in its parishes. The organization of the yamabushi was threefold – gyōjakata, shūtōkata, and sōkata, with lower-ranking shugen priests below them. All were under the authority of the zasu.
As a result of the separation of buddha and kami worship (shinbutsu bunri) and anti-Buddhist actions (haibutsu kishaku), virtually all buildings associated with Shugendō were lost, with the exception of the former Great Hall, which was converted into the shrine's Buheiden. Shugendō ritual was also abolished.
The shrine-temple complex known as Hikosan Gongen became Hikosan Shrine, the Buzenbō became Takanushi Shrine, and Hannyakutsu became Tamaya Shrine.
The zasu became the hereditary gūji. The shrine supported devotees of the confraternities (kō), drawn mainly from farming families.
The clay bell, a famous souvenir of Mt Hiko, is still used as a magical implement for agricultural rituals among farmers. - source : Suzuki Masataka Kokugakuin 2006 -

- quote -
The play "Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Sukedachi" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in the 10th lunar month of 1786 in Ôsaka at the Higashi no Shibai. - - - - - Summary
Disguising himself as a traveling gambler named Dôhachi, Takumi preys on passers-by by his rigged gambling. When one of the victims accuses him of fraud, Takumi beats him up. He then exchanges pleasantries with street girls and goes away.

Sagohei, an old servant to Osono, appears and, giving money to the street girls, asks them to go away immediately. After they have gone, Osono arrives in a palanquin and, pretending to be a street girl, solicits passers-by. She inserts her hand into their sleeves and feels their arms as a means of identifying Takumi, who has a scar in the upper arm.

She makes her try first on a samurai and then on a sumô wrestler. The third person approached by her happens to be Todoroki Dengoemon, a former fencing disciple of Ichimisai and now chief retainer of the Lord of Kokura. He recognizes Osono as Ichimisai's daughter and gives her a wooden traveling certificate, which would enable her to pass through barriers on her tour in search of Takumi.

After Todoroki Dengoemon has gone, Tomohei arrives and tells Osono that Okiku was killed by Takumi. As evidence he shows a small bag containing Takumi's navel string which he found beside Okiku's body. He then kills himself by way of apology for his failure to protect Okiku from Takumi's attack. Just before he breathes his last, Tomohei throws Takumi's navel string into a pond. In no time clouds of spray rise from the pond and the incense burner in Osono's bosom issues a strange sound.

Takumi reappears as if drawn by a supernatural power. He realizes by intuition that he is the son of the late Mitsuhide. Believing that his deceased father threw his precious Kawazumaru sword into this pond and that he now wants Takumi to recover it, he looks for and finds the sword under floating weeds. Soon after he has picked up the sword Osono approaches Takumi, pretending to be a street girl and tries to rob him of the sword. Takumi resists. As the two struggle for its possession, the sword jumps onto a gourd trellis. They too climb onto the trellis and continue fighting.
At last Takumi makes good his escape, taking the precious sword with him. - reference source : kabuki21.com/hyotandana -

One of the male kami produced as a result of the trial by pledge (ukei) performed by Amaterasu and Susanoo.
According to both Kojiki and Nihongi, Amaterasu and Susanoo furnished personal items as "seed" (monozane) for the pledge; Amaterasu furnished the "Five-hundred Yasaka jewels" which she wore, and from those were produced five male deities, one of which was Amenooshihomimi.
Oshihomimi was later ordered by Amaterasu and Takagi no kami to descend to the Central Land of Reed Plains, but it was first necessary to pacify the Central Land, and in the interval, Oshihomimi had a son, Ninigi. As a result, following pacification of the land, Ninigi was entrusted with the mission, and he descended in place of Oshihomimi. - reference source : Nishioka Kazuhiko Kokugakuin 2005-

In Mountain Mandalas Allan G. Grapard provides a thought-provoking history of one aspect of the Japanese Shugendo tradition in Kyushu, by focusing on three cultic systems: Mount Hiko, Usa-Hachiman, and the Kunisaki Peninsula. Grapard draws from a rich range of theorists from the disciplines of geography, history, anthropology, sociology, and humanistic geography and situates the historical terrain of his research within a much larger context.
- - - - - Table of Contents
1. Shugendo and the Production of Social Space
- - - Mount Hiko
2. Geotyped and Chronotyped Social Spaces
- - - Mount Hiko: of swords, meteors, dragons, and goshawks
- - - Waiting for dawn on Mount Hiko: the geotype and chronotype of heterotopia
- - - Mount Hiko's Sacred Perimeter: four corners and three dimensions
3. Festivities and Processions: Spatialities of Power
- - - Mount Hiko as a socio-ritualized space
- - - Mount Hiko's conflicts with Mount Homan and the Shogo-in monzeki
- - - Mount Hiko's ritual calendar
4. Shattered Bodies, Statues, and the Appeal of Truncated Memory
- - - Mount Hiko's quasi-destruction and fall into irrelevance
and more - source : bloomsbury.com/au/mountain-mandalas -

. Tozai Nanboku 東西南北 - the Four Directions . - Introduction - including :
The Four Animals, Shijuu (四獣,四聖獣）
or
Four Gods, Shijin (四神)
Four Guardians of the Compass
The four protectors of Edo and Kyoto
Feng Shui 風水 Chinese Geomancy
The Asian Lunar Calendar

- quote - Konjin "Tutelary of metal,"
an itinerant kami originating within the cult of Onmyōdō (Yin-Yang divination), associated with varying compass directions in space, and believed to change position in accordance with the year, lunar month, and the season. Konjin's current location in space at any given time was considered an unlucky or taboo direction, since the deity was thought to be violent and to delight in bloodshed and curses. Based on these ideas, lucky and unlucky days and directions were postulated in accordance with astrological calender terms and concepts. Unlucky days and directions were linked to the observance of directional interdictions (kataimi) and the practice of "changing directions" (katatagae) to avoid the most strongly tabooed directions on a given day. Tabooed directions, in turn, were those in which the malicious deities Konjin, Ten'ichijin, and Taihakujin were currently located. According to the practice of katatagae, if plans for travel indicated that the final destination lay in the direction of one of the above tabooed deities, the traveler would avoid that direction by setting out a day early in a different direction; after spending the night at a temporary site, he or she would start out the next day for the final destination, thus avoiding direct travel in the line of taboo.

The practice of katatagae was frequently observed among Heian-period nobles, and as it became an integral part of their lives, it worked to strongly restrict everyday movement and activities. Beliefs in the "seven deaths of Konjin" stated that violating Konjin's tabooed direction would result in the death of up to seven close relatives; strong interdictions were thus placed on various areas of life, including the construction and renovation of houses, moving one's residence, public works construction, and leaving on journeys.

The cult of Konjin was also associated with Onmyōdō's geomantic concept of two "demon's gates" (the northeast and southwest directions on the compass), and the belief arose that Konjin was particularly formidable when it resided in one of these quarters as "Kimon Konjin" (Konjin of the Demon's Gate"). Of the two, the more dangerous and feared was the "front demon's gate" (omote kimon) located in the northeast direction called ushi-tora, although the "back demon's gate" (ura kimon) located in the southwest direction (hitsuji-saru) was also the subject of taboo.

Since the mountain Hieizan was located in the northeast direction from the new capital of Kyoto, the mountain was selected as the site for Saichō's temple Enryakuji, as a device to protect the capital from unlucky influences emanating from that quarter. Both within the capital city and at the temple, it became customary to avoid building gates, earthen storehouses, toilets and baths in the northeastern quarter of one's residence, and protruding corners were also chamfered in that quarter, a practice which was linked to the placement of "demon-faced tiles" (onigawara) on the northeastern corners of buildings as an exorcism of the "demon's gate."

Other practices associated with the demon's gate include the avoidance of marriage with a person from the northeastern direction, and the avoidance of cutting trees or moving stones in the northeastern quarter of one's residence. In response to the cult, professional sorcerers proliferated, performing exorcisms to eliminate various Konjin banes. - source : Kawamura Kunimitsu, Kokugakuin, 2005 -

- quote - Konjin (金神 "God of metals") is an itinerant kami (spirit) from Onmyōdō (a traditional Japanese cosmology and system of divination based on the Chinese philosophies of Wu Xing (Five Elements) and Yin and yang). Konjin is associated with compass directions, and said to change position with the year, lunar month, and season.

Konjin's momentary location in space at any given time is considered an unlucky direction, because this kami is stated to be particularly violent and said to punish through curses. Based on this, a calendar with astronomical and geomantic direction relations was created, which included interdictions (kataimi). A practice known as katatagae (changing directions) is used to avoid the worst directions on a given day, usually where Konjin, Ten'ichijin, and Taihakujin are currently located.

Katatagae was favored among Heian-period nobles and it became a part of their daily lives. The construction and renovation of houses, moving one's residence, public works construction, and traveling was strongly influenced by katatagae.

Konjin was said to be at tremendous power when residing as "Kimon Konjin" (Konjin of the Demon's Gate") at the two "demon's gates" (the northeast "front" gate called omote-kimon and the southwest "back" gate called ura kimon). Kyoto was supposedly protected from any bad influences by placing Saichō's temple Enryakuji at Mount Hieizan. - source : wikipedia -

Konkookyoo 金光教 Konkōkyō The Konjin cult
was particularly widespread in the province of Bitchū (Okayama Prefecture), and it was based on that traditional cult that the man named Konkō Daijin (Akazawa Bunji) founded the new religion of Konkōkyō late in the Edo period. Konkō Daijin took upon himself the title "living kami Konkō Daijin" and proclaimed that Konjin was not a kami of evil and curses, but in fact the deity Tenchikane no Kami, the "world's 'parent kami' and savior of humankind." According to Konkō Daijin, one could gain the aid of the kami merely through "having faith in the kami out of a sincere mind" (jitsui teinei shinjin), and without the need to perform magical spells or abide by calendrical and directional interdictions.
In the mid-Meiji period, Deguchi Nao was influenced by Konkōkyō to preach that "Ushitora no Konjin" was the kami who would rebuild and restore the world. - source : konkokyo.or.jp/eng -

Rokuksan 六三 Rokusan Deity
If someone has pain without any known cause, it might be due to Rokusan.
Dividing the age of the ill person by 9, and if the rest of the number falls on a number of Rokusan, then he is the cause of the illness.

hime konjin sama no tatari ヒメコンジン様の祟り the curse of Hime Konjin Sama
In every house there are for Konjin Sama deities to protect the premises.
One of them is the female "Princess Konjin Sama".
If people do not treat her spot nicely, someone will get ill. They must keep the area around the outside toilet clean and not cut branches from the Silverberry (グミの木 gumi, Elaeagnus pungens), otherwise their lower back will start aching the same day due to the influence of Rokusan.
If someone gets ill in this way, he has to seek help from a person performing rituals for Hime Kojin Sama and Rokusan or learn a special spell to repeat secretly to himself.